Ceremony in Death - J. D. Robb [0]
Praise for Naked in Death:
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter five
chapter six
chapter seven
chapter eight
chapter nine
chapter ten
chapter eleven
chapter twelve
chapter thirteen
chapter fourteen
chapter fifteen
chapter sixteen
chapter seventeen
chapter eighteen
chapter nineteen
chapter twenty
A tradition of murder…
On the north side of the house was an arbor of thin, somehow fluid iron. The vines twisting and tumbling over it were smothered with flowers wildly red. She had married him there, in an old traditional ceremony where vows were exchanged and promises made. A ceremony, she thought now. A rite that included music, flowers, witnesses, words that were repeated time after time, place after place, century through century…
So it continued. Science and logic disproved, but the rites continued, incense and chanting, offerings and the drinking of wine that symbolized blood.
And the sacrifice of the innocent.
Annoyed with herself, she rubbed her hands over her face. Philosophizing was foolish and useless. Murder had been done by human force. And it was human force that would dispense justice. That was, after all, the ultimate balance of good and evil.
Praise for Naked in Death:
“Danger, romance…a masterpiece of fine writing.”
—Rendezvous
“Superbly suspenseful and strikingly original.”
—Romantic Times
This book contains a preview of J. D. Robb’s next romantic suspense novel
Vengeance in Death
HOT ICE
SACRED SINS
BRAZEN VIRTUE
SWEET REVENGE
PUBLIC SECRETS
GENUINE LIES
CARNAL INNOCENCE
DIVINE EVIL
HONEST ILLUSIONS
PRIVATE SCANDALS
BORN IN FIRE
BORN IN ICE
BORN IN SHAME
HIDDEN RICHES
TRUE BETRAYALS
DARING TO DREAM
HOLDING THE DREAM
FINDING THE DREAM
MONTANA SKY
SEA SWEPT
RISING TIDES
INNER HARBOR
SANCTUARY
HOMEPORT
THE REEF
ONCE UPON A CASTLE
(anthology with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan,
and Marianne Willman)
FROM THE HEART (anthology)
SILENT NIGHT
(anthology with Susan Plunkett, Dee Holmes, and Claire Cross)
Titles written as J. D. Robb
NAKED IN DEATH
GLORY IN DEATH
IMMORTAL IN DEATH
RAPTURE IN DEATH
CEREMONY IN DEATH
VENGENCE IN DEATH
HOLIDAY IN DEATH
CONSPIRACY IN DEATH
CEREMONY IN DEATH
J. D. ROBB
BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK
CEREMONY IN DEATH
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1997 by Nora Roberts.
Excerpt from Vengeance in Death by J. D. Robb copyright © 1997 by Nora Roberts.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is http://www.penguinputnam.com
ISBN:978-1-1012-0363-7
BERKLEY®
Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY and the “B” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.
15 14 13 12 11 10 9
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
—Shakespeare
We may not pay Satan reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents.
—Mark Twain
chapter one
Death surrounded her. She faced it daily, dreamed of it nightly. Lived with it always. She knew its sounds, its scents, even its texture. She could look it in its dark and clever eye without a flinch. Death was a tricky foe, she knew. One flinch, one blink, and it could shift, it could change. It could win.
Ten years as a cop hadn’t hardened her toward it. A decade on the force hadn’t made her accept it. When she looked death in the eye, it was with the cold steel of the warrior.
Eve Dallas looked at death now. And she looked at one of her own.
Frank Wojinski had been a good cop, solid. Some would have said plodding. He’d been affable, she remembered. A man who hadn’t complained about the bilge